Unexpected savior
by Tourmaline20
Summary: Anakin Skywalker has died, but that doesn't mean he's not going to be there the times his family needs him slight AU.
1. Still with you

I truly wished I owned Star wars, but unfortunately I'm not George Lucas.

Unexpected savior,

Anakin is dead, but he isn't completely gone when his family is in need he's there to help. Mild AU, this story will probably be short less than 10 chaps.

The battle of Endor;

Luke Skywalker and his sister Leia turned and headed back towards the others leaving the three spirits of Yoda, Obi-Wan, and their father Anakin behind. Anakin smiled as he watched his children leave _his children_ that still felt weird to him, less than four hours ago he had one son and then he'd learned he had a daughter as well. Anakin shook his head feeling stupid for not seeing the resemblance before Leia looked just like her mother how had he missed it?

Anakin shook his head he couldn't help feeling slightly guilt he'd missed everything during their childhoods and then he'd terrorized them as adults. As the three of them disappeared once more Obi-Wan put a reassuring hand on Anakin's shoulder, "it's all right Ani you can be there now just in a different way." Anakin nodded, "I'll do whatever I can I promise."

Anakin's first step was to confront Leia, he could sense her anger at him and while Anakin could understand that perfectly he knew that if Leia held onto that grudge she could become exactly what her father had been (or worse). Anakin let out a loud sigh of relief when he felt Leia's forgiveness wash over him. As a spirit he could feel when anyone was thinking about him and positive thoughts had soothing quality to them, almost like rubbing a balm onto a stinging wound. The feeling was even greater when Leia overcame her fears of having children because of Anakin's past after discovering more about it.

Anakin and Padmé were thrilled when they became grandparents, but as soon as Jacen, Jaina, and then Anakin were born it was clear their lives wouldn't be easy. Sure enough a few years later Anakin had to intervene to save their lives……..

Coruscant (the twins are 7).

Jacen and Jaina Solo were running through the lower level of the great city-planet Coruscant chasing their friend Zekk who was running towards Pekhum's garage, the other boy had wanted to show the twins the changes Peckhum had made to his ship and Jacen had quickly suggested they race, Zekk had said no at first (he'd grown up on the lower levels and knew how dangerous they could be) but with a little persuasion from his friends he'd agreed.

Now Zekk was running down the street dodging the usual trash and busted droids that littered the ground here on the lower levels with Jacen and Jaina following closely behind laughing. The twins knew they could easily outrun Zekk (with or without the Force), Jacen and Jaina had both visited Pekhum's garage before and knew their way there, but they let Zekk keep ahead of them anyway.

As they turned the corner Jacen shouted, "Jaina did you see that?" Jaina looked around and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, "See what?" Jaina slowed down a little as Jacen spoke again, "I thought I saw someone standing in the door way." Jaina shrugged, "Jacen there's a strange looking person standing in _every _doorway down here it was probably nothing. Now come on." Jacen glanced back at the doorway which had caught his attention before, and sure enough it was empty. Jacen shrugged thinking his sister was right, it was probably nothing.

Jacen and Jaina quickly caught up to Zekk, but just as he turned another corner a pair of large arms reached down and picked him up. Zekk shouted kicking and punching at the man who'd grabbed him as he shouted, "let me go, put me down!" Jacen and Jaina surged forward determined to help their friend; they hoped they could take down just one guy. At least knock him over so Zekk could get away.

Jaina reached them first the man who Zekk was at least two meters tall with dark hair and nasty looking eyes he had a horrible grin on his face as he spoke, "Oh no kid you're not going anywhere." Jacen and Jaina looked at each other and instantly knew what they we're going to do they reached into the force so they could trip the large man, but just as they came into sight two other men picked them up and soon they were surrounded by twenty different men.

The man who'd grabbed Zekk fell over and Zekk tried to run, but he was picked up by another one of the men in the group who hit Zekk hard on the head knocking him out cold. Jaina and Jacen both screamed hoping someone would here them and come help the man holding Jacen spoke up his voice had a grinding sound to it like to rocks moving against each other, "Don't bother no one's gonna hear ya down here."

The men raised their hands to knock Jacen and Jaina out when a voice rang out from the shadows to their left, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Jaina and Jacen jerked their heads to see a tall man in a cloak standing there one of the men spoke up, "Hey back off buddy this don't have nothin to do with you." The stranger moved forward slowly never taking his eyes off of the three children, "oh yes it does. Now you have two choices, one you can drop the kids and run. If you're lucky you'll get away, or at the least you'll be in one peace when you're delivered to the authorities. Option two you try to win, you lose and end up in severe pain and possibly missing a few limbs."

The man holding Jacen raised a hand to the boys neck, "I think we'll take option three you let us go or will snap the kids neck and leave you with three small bodies to explain to their mommies and daddies." The stranger stepped forward as he pulled something out from under the cloak, "Oh, I don't think so." He flipped a switch and a light blue lightsaber came on with a loud 'swish'.

Jacen and Jaina both gasped he was a _Jedi _eight of the men in the group ran at the sight of the lightsaber, but the others stood fast and the man holding Jacen squeezed his neck harder making the small boy whimper, "look pal I don't care who you are if you don't let us go we'll just kill the kiddies." The stranger moved closer and said in a voice that broke no argument, "no you won't." Jacen and Jaina felt a surge in the force and a moment later the three men doubled over and dropped the children Jacen and Jaina landed safely as the stranger carefully levitated the unconscious Zekk to the ground.

Jacen and Jaina ran to stand behind the stranger, they weren't sure who this guy was, but they knew it was safer with him than with the others Zekk landed next to them. The stranger turned to them, "Stay out of the way." Jacen opened his mouth to speak but the stranger put up a hand as the other 12 men stepped forward.

As the stranger attacked several of the men pulled out blasters and begun shooting, but the man used his saber to deflect them back causing the blasters to buzz out and their owners to drop them as they cursed loudly. The stranger jumped up kicking two of the men in the head and causing them to fall to the ground unconscious as his hood slipped off his head. Jacen and Jaina saw that the stranger was about twenty, tall, with shoulder length dirty blonde hair as the two men the stranger had kicked landed on the ground three of the men rushed forward at him the stranger used the force to knock them back as well.

The stranger used the force to knock the others out and soon all 12 men were lying on the ground the stranger pulled a large metallic object out of his robe. It looked like a larger blaster pistol, but as the man pulled the trigger a net came out wrapping around all twelve of them into confinement.

The stranger swung the rope attached to the net over a nearby ledge and pushed a button causing the net to rise in the air. The stranger threw a small device at the rope, once the device connected with the rope it began to beep loudly. Jaina instantly recognized it as a tracking device of some kind the stranger pulled his hood back up and walked over to the children he turned to Jacen and Jaina, "Are you hurt?" Jacen shook his head, "We're a little bruised, but it's nothing serious." Jaina turned to the stranger, "Is Zekk all right?" the man reached down and placed a hand on Zekk's head after a few moments he spoke, "He should be fine let's get you home." The stranger picked Zekk up and helped Jacen and Jaina to their feet.

The stranger started walking towards a near-by lift and Jacen spoke up, "ah, not that we aren't grateful or anything, but who are you and how did you know we needed help?" The stranger paused at the door to the lift, "You can call me A.J. I was down here." He paused to look around before continuing, "checking up with my family when I sensed your distress." Jaina looked around, "You're family lives down here?!" Jaina knew her uncle Luke would never allow the family of one of his trainees to live in the lower levels of Coruscant he would've gotten Mom and Dad to help relocate them.

A.J. shook his head, "Not exactly, they were just down here visiting some old friends and I came with to make sure they didn't run into trouble. I had a feeling something was going to happen, turns out it wasn't my family who was in danger after all it was you two."

Jacen and Jaina looked curiously at each other this story didn't seem quiet right, but they didn't sense any danger or severe deceit from this man and he had saved their lives after all so they decided not to push the issue too far. A.J. spoke again as he summoned the lift, "After everything your parents and uncle have done for me it's the least I can do." Jaina jerked her head up, "We don't know you."

When A.J. spoke again this time his voice had a strong sound of humor to it, "You may not realize who I am, but trust me when I say you know me better than you think you do." The lift came down and A.J. waited for Jacen and Jaina to get in before he followed with Zekk in his arms. The lift began to move up quickly as Jaina said, "I don't remember anyone mentioning a man named A.J." A.J. shrugged as Zekk began to toss lightly in his arms once the lift arrived on the level of the Solo's apartments Zekk was awake, "what's going on?"

A.J. spoke gently, "Calm down your fine, I'm a friend." Zekk opened his mouth to speak, but just as he did they arrived at the Solo's room A.J. punched in the security code and the door opened. Jaina raised an eyebrow and turned to see that Jacen also had a confused look on his face this guy must know her parents well to have been given the security code. Jaina's parents only gave that code to people they trusted the most and they changed it so often there's no way someone could've gotten it or guessed it another way.

A.J. put Zekk down on the couch and said, "You'll be all right just take it easy why don't you two go get you're parents? A.J. had turned to Jacen and Jaina as he spoke, but his hood was still up and they didn't get a look at his face the twins turned and ran towards the kitchen shouting, "Mom Dad!" Han Solo poked his head out from behind the wall the smile on his face faltering as he saw the dirt and bruises on his children, "Jaina, Jacen what happened? Are you two all right?"

They both started talking at once, "We went to visit Zekk."

"And we were running through the lower levels when some guys grabbed us."

"They were trying to take us away when this guy appeared."

"A Jedi named A.J. he saved us and brought us back here."

"He's in the living room with Zekk."

Han was used to the twins talking at once and managed to understand most of what they were saying (at least he got the gist of it). Han picked Anakin up from the floor were he was playing and walked into the living room to see Zekk on the couch Han looked around, "What's going on?"

There was no one else in the room Jacen and Jaina looked around, "Zekk where's A.J.?" Zekk turned towards them, "He left, he said he couldn't stay long that we were safe here and everything would be all right, but he had to go home." Han didn't know what was going on, but something about this just didn't sit right with him he pulled his pocket communicator out and turned it on, "Luke, Leia, I think you need to get over here right now someone tried to kidnap Zekk and the twins again."

Luke was on Coruscant discussing some Jedi issues with Leia about ways for 'normal people' to recognize children with Jedi potential. Han cleaned the kids up and tended to their injuries as best he could while waiting from Luke and Leia to arrive. It took them less than ten minutes to get there. Leia came running in shouting, "Han, kids what's going on?!" all three children ran to their mother, "Mom!' Leia gathered her children in her arms noting the bruises on the twins as Luke entered the apartments, "What happened?"

Leia turned back to look at Han and Luke, "That's what I want to know?" Han took a breath, "I'm not really sure Threepio was supposed to take the kids down to see Zekk." At that moment the droid in question entered, "Oh, Master Jacen, Mistress Jaina, there you are." Han turned to him, "all right golden rod what happened?" Threepio's voice became distressed, "oh it was dreadful I was taking Master Jacen and Mistress Jaina to the lift when I suddenly shut down, I just restarted and found myself in a storage closet of some kind."

Han and Leia both gave the twins a look that said, 'care to explain.' Jacen and Jaina smiled sheepishly. They hadn't wanted to bring the irritating droid along so they'd shut him down. Han rolled his eyes, "I knew I shouldn't have let you kids go with Chewie off planet visiting his family." Jacen and Jaina both groaned as Luke asked, "So what happened?" Han bit his lip, "Anyways I was in the kitchen with Anakin and about half an hour after they'd left they came running in shouting for help, they said some guys tried to take them and Zekk, but some man named A.J. saved them when I came out here he was gone."

Leia looked at Han, "Was anyone hurt?" Han shook his head, "I checked the kids over they don't have any severe injuries, Zekk hit his head pretty hard, but everyone should be all right. I didn't see this A.J. person Zekk said he left." Leia turned to her children, "Who was this man?" Jaina shrugged, "I don't know, he was a Jedi and said he knew you." Jacen spoke up, "He even had the code for the door." Jaina nodded, "He kept his hood up and we never saw his face, all we saw was that he was a tall guy with dark blonde hair." The three adults looked at each other while Anakin looked around, "What's going on?" Leia turned to her youngest child, "That's what we're trying to find out sweetie." Luke bent down so he was eye to eye with his niece, "Jaina, are you sure this man was a Jedi?

Jaina nodded, "yeah he used the force to catch us and knock the others out." Jacen said, "We could feel the force coming from him he was definitely a Jedi." Luke turned to Han and Leia shaking his head, "I have no idea who this could be." Leia said, "Neither do I."

Han shook his head, "Hey don't look at me kid, Jedi's are your business not mine I don't have a clue." Luke turned to Zekk, "Zekk, did you see this man's face?" Zekk shook his head, "No sir, his hood was low and his face was in shadows." Luke turned to his sister and brother-in-law, "Can I have your permission to check their memories? That way I might be able to find out who this man could be?" Han bit his lip, "I don't know, I don't have a problem with the force stuff anymore, but I'm not sure if I like you using it on the kids."

Anakin leaned onto Leia's shoulder as she turned to Han, "Mom, my head hurts." Leia patted his back gently as she turned to Han, "It's o.k. I got you." Leia gave Han a reassuring smile as she said, "Han I know you don't like the idea of Luke looking at their memories, but we need to know what happened and the kids won't be in any danger." Leia turned to Jaina and Jacen, "kids is it all right with you if uncle Luke looks into your mind?"

Jacen and Jaina nodded Luke turned to them both, "Jacen, Jaina, I want you both to try and focus as hard as you can on what happened and this man named A.J. all right?" They both nodded again as Zekk said, "I'm going to leave." Luke held up a hand, "Zekk wait I want to check your memories to if that's all right?" Zekk fidgeted nervously, "Will it, will it hurt?"

The boy looked terrified, Luke's intense blue eyes softened as he shook his head, "No Zekk, I promise you it won't hurt." Zekk swayed back and forth a few times before finally saying, "all right." Luke gestured for Zekk to sit back down which he did as Luke began to probe Jaina's memories. Luke looked over the event at normal speed then he slowed things down, just as Jaina said there was no clear view of this mans face. Luke even tried changing the angle Jaina saw the man from but nothing worked. Luke pulled back and turned to Han and Leia, "nothing." They both looked disappointed as Luke turned his attention to Jacen and then Zekk, but the result was the same, "I'm not getting anything, none of them had a clear look at his face and I don't even recognize his voice."

Leia turned to her brother, "Well can you show me what he sounded like I might recognize him?" Luke nodded vigorously it was possible Leia might know who this man was, Luke just didn't understand why he hadn't recognized anything about A.J. (although Luke couldn't help feeling there was something eerily familiar about the way this man had fought). Luke had trained every Jedi who had appeared since the emperor died at one degree or another and he just didn't understand how he couldn't recognize this man, but still if there was even a chance Leia could recognize him they had to try.

Luke projected the image of A.J. into Leia's mind, the sound of his voice and the most of his physical appearance Luke had gained from the children's perspective memories. Leia focused on this man and tried to discover who this he was, but nothing triggered her memory. When Luke withdrew Leia shook her head in defeat, "no nothing." Han, Luke, and Leia all looked at each over in concern while at the same time Anakin fell asleep in his mothers' arms.

Soon the communicator in the Solo apartments was being used to its fullest extent all three adults called in every connection they had. They checked the security holos and again there was no view of the mystery mans face. Leia called Coruscant security and found that a tracking device had lead them to an area in the lower level were they'd found a bunch of men in a net with a recording of the attempted abduction (no view there either) to make things even stranger the technology used to apprehend these men was stamped with the label of the Old Republic!

Now all three of them were completely confused, no one had any idea of a 20 something year old Jedi who would have access to or use Old Republic technology of any kind it was a total mystery. Luke, Han, and Leia spent the next three weeks trying to discover this mans identity to no avail and eventually they all managed to move past the incident and for the most part they didn't really think about it too often. Until they heard from A.J. again……

O.k. that's all for now what do you think should I keep going?


	2. Hiding in plain sight

Second chances

Anakin Solo sat on a chair in the medical wing of the jedi training school on Yavin four watching over his friend Tahiri who had broken her leg during a lightsaber training exercise. Tahiri had been dueling one of the jedi knights so that her skill level could be properly evaluated and she'd tried to do a back flip off of one of the many cliffs in the training room.

The idea of the move was to land behind your opponent and take them by surprise, unfortunately Tahiri hadn't practiced this move as often as she needed to and when she tried to use it against a fully trained knight she had landed wrong and broken her right leg. Anakin shuddered as he remembered the sickening crack that had come with the breaking of the bone as well as the scream Tahiri had uttered as a result of her injury. The knight Tahiri had been dueling quickly moved to the girls' side and used the force to place her in a healing trance then carried her here to the medical wing. Anakin had followed closely. He knew of course that breaking a bone (while a serious injury) was hardly ever life threatening and the odds of a Jedi or force sensitive dying from such an injury were probably one in 5 million, but still he wanted to make sure everything would be all right. Even more he wanted to be there when Tahiri woke up in case she needed anything and so she could see a friendly face.

Anakin absentmindedly looked out the window and noticed that it had _finally_ stopped raining. Yavin four's rainy season had begun a week earlier and they hadn't seen the sun since Anakin couldn't help smiling as he saw the sun peaking out from behind the clouds, "She'll be fine you know? It's nothing serious she just needs to rest." Anakin turned at the voice feeling his heart thud loudly against his chest, "Sweet force, Uncle Luke don't do that."

Luke Skywalker gave his nephew a small grin, "Anakin, I seriously doubt you could have a heart attack considering the fact that you're not even a teenager yet." Anakin made a face, "I'll be 13 in two months." Anakin was sick of being seen as the baby of the family and being reminded of this irritated him to no end. Luke shook his head realizing what Anakin was thinking, "I know it's hard to have people see you as only one thing, but no matter how old you get your parents will still think of you as their youngest. After all Han still calls me 'kid' even though it's been a long time since I resembled a kid even in the broadest sense of the word."

Anakin smirked, "I know it just bugs me." Luke nodded, "I can understand that, listen if you want to stay I won't stop you. Just make sure you don't neglect your own needs, it won't help anyone if you get sick because you're too worried to eat or sleep properly. Moreover, you need to be aware of your surroundings, if you don't pay proper attention to the world around you things tend to get messy fast. I would've hoped you'd have learned that by now. If anything happens to you because your not taking care of yourself or not focusing properly your mother will have my hide nailed to her door."

Anakin laughed out loud as Luke gave Tahiri a thorough check up before flashing his nephew a smile and leaving. Tahiri woke up about two hours later and smiled when she saw Anakin had fallen asleep in the chair with his head resting on her bed, "Hey, have you moved at all since they brought me in?"

Anakin jerked his head up violently, he had not been sleeping heavily and Tahiri's voice surprised him, "Hey, you're up how do you feel?" Tahiri grinned, "Fine, I'm just a little sore." Tahiri looked out the window and noticed the weather, "The rain stopped, why aren't you outside?" Anakin shrugged, "Didn't feel like it." Tahiri cocked her head to one side giving Anakin a look that said, 'I know you're lying' and said, "You were worried about me so you stayed around?"

Anakin flushed as he nodded Tahiri who shook her head at him, "Well now you know I'm fine so why don't you get out?" Anakin looked up he wanted to go out, he really did. After all anyone would start getting stir crazy after being stuck inside for over a week (even a jedi), but he didn't want to leave Tahiri alone. Tahiri seemed to sense what he was feeling, "Anakin, I'm fine really go."

Anakin grinned, "Thanks, I'll come back later." Tahiri nodded and Anakin grinned again after a quick hug good-bye he left. As soon as Anakin stepped outside he could smell the rain that had just been falling. The ground was muddy and full of all sorts of unpleasant things that had been washed up from the storm and Anakin didn't think anything had ever looked so good. Over to his right he saw a group of younger students having a mud fight while a couple of jedi knights watched over them to make sure no one got seriously injured.

Anakin considered joining them for a moment, but no, he wanted to get away, he wanted to run, and that is exactly what he did. Anakin looked around and spotted a path through the jungle that was relatively clean, and then he took off running down it like the devil himself was chasing him. Anakin dodged through the bushes laughing as he jumped logs and ducked under low hanging branches. It was great, this was exactly what he'd needed unfortunately Anakin was so excited he wasn't paying attention to the world around him like his uncle had warned him to be.

Anakin didn't know it, but less than 5 meters ahead of where he was a small stream had swelled because of the rain. So far the stream hadn't broken lose because a large tree had fallen after being struck by lightning and it had kept the stream back, but it was going to break and soon. Anakin continued to run headless of the danger just as reached the stream Anakin's boot caught on the tree jerking it slightly, giving the stream what it needed to break lose.

The water came cascading free the tree was knocked to the side and hit Anakin in the back of his legs before he could move out of the way. Anakin tried to use the force to cushion his fall, but everything happened so fast he couldn't slow himself enough. Anakin hit the ground causing the back of his head to smack against a rock dazing him badly.

The stream continued to break forth bringing the young man with it, Anakin was able to keep his head above water (barely), but his head injury prevented him from using the force properly, he couldn't even see straight right now. The water began to rush fast and as it went Anakin yelled for help hoping someone would either hear him or sense his danger. Then he saw it, there was a large drop off were a steep hill began just at the lip of a valley, if he went over there's no way he would survive without help of some kind. Anakin screamed as loud as he could, "HELP!!!!" and just as he was about to go over a hand came out of no where and grabbed his right wrist, "hang on!" A mans voice rang out beside him Anakin turned to see a blurry figure in the water he had a rope tied around his waist that was attacked to a tall tree.

Anakin grabbed the mans hand with his left and was pulled forward with the help of the force. The man pulled Anakin up out of the river and into his arms. Anakin couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed as he wrapped his arms around the mans neck and his legs around the mans waist like a small child, but he shook it off quickly. Embarrassment was a lot better than dying. The man grabbed the rope with both arms and shouted, "All right here we go now hold on tight." Anakin tightened his grip until the man gagged loudly, "Not that tight." Anakin released slightly as the man bent his knees and did a force leap onto the bank of what was now a river.

When they landed Anakin began to shake from a combination of shock and cold, 'he had almost died!' The man rubbed his back, "You're o.k. everything is fine." It took Anakin a moment to calm down and once he did he flushed when he realized he was being held by a stranger, "Hey it's fine I understand." Anakin snorted loudly and the man laughed, "No I really do, once when I was 16 my master and I were sent on this very important diplomatic mission, but what no one had told us was on the planet we went to there was a strong anti-Jedi movement. Apparently all these paranoid lunatics thought we were going to use the force to trick them into doing nothing but what the republic wanted. So when we arrived everyone started shooting at us."

The man paused as Anakin moved to sit on the ground near-by, "Anyway, my master and I were doing fairly well until some idiot shot out one of the roof support beams and it came down on us. I was trying to dodge blaster bolts and falling plaster all it once, it didn't work so well. I was winged by a shot and knocked out cold if my master hadn't found me and carried me out I would have died."

Anakin looked up as his vision cleared he wanted to get a look at the man who'd saved his life. The man was tall, but now that they were on the ground he'd pulled his hood up and Anakin couldn't see his face, "who are you?" Anakin winced as a pain shot through his head. The man walked around Anakin to look at the injury, "A.J." The name sounded vaguely familiar to Anakin, but he couldn't place it. Still that didn't surprise him there were so many people coming and going from the academy it was hard to remember who everyone was. Anakin had probably seen this guy around before and just couldn't place him without seeing his face.

Anakin looked at the man who'd saved him curiously, "why is your hood up?" the stranger shrugged, "I have my reasons, this doesn't look too bad. You'll need a bacta patch, but you should be all right. Now I'm going to put you in a healing trance and take you back to the academy, but I need you to work with me on this, if you fight it won't work."

Anakin rolled his eyes, "I know that, all right." The man placed his left hand on Anakin's head and a moment later he was fast asleep. A.J. picked Anakin up and started walking towards the academy, "I swear kid, every single member of your family has to have some kind of genetic predisposition for getting into trouble, nearly being killed, and then barely escaping by the skin of their teeth. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but it's certainly enough to give all the adults involved in your life grey hairs."

A.J. shook his head as the academy came in sight, "I tell you this is nuts, here I am talking to someone whose unconscious and still worrying about things that theoretically speaking I have no business putting my nose in, in the first place. There are a lot of people who disapprove of my doing these types of things and it takes a lot to convince them otherwise."

A.J. carried Anakin into the med bay and placed him on a bed next to Tahiri then he reached over and shook her awake, "What's going on? Anakin! What happened?" A.J. said, "He fell and hit his head, it's not too bad, but he needs to see a healer." Tahiri reached under her bed and pulled out the emergency call button bringing the healer into the room. She pushed A.J. aside as she assessed Anakin's injury and when she turned to question him he was gone.

The healer looked around, "Where'd he go?" Tahiri shrugged, "I don't know he was standing right behind you and then you moved and I couldn't see him anymore when you moved again he was gone. Maybe he slipped out when you weren't looking?" the healer shook her head, "I would have sensed that do you know who he was?"

Tahiri shook her head, "no I didn't even see his face he was a tall guy with a deep voice." The healer shook her head and decided to deal with the mystery man after her patient had been properly cared for. After cleaning the wound and sealing the skin together with surgical glue the healer placed a bacta patch on the back of Anakin's head just over where the wound was and turned to call master Skywalker, but there was no need he just arrived.

Luke had sensed his nephews' distress and gone to help, but once he sensed that not only was Anakin safely within the academy he was in the medical wing being cared for by one of the chief healers he realized whatever had caused the panic was no longer a problem. Luke waited outside so he wouldn't interfere, even though he had healing skills it wasn't his specialty when he felt the healer was done and then he entered, "Well Jenna what happened?" The healer Jenna opened and closed her mouth a few times in total confusion, "Master Skywalker did you see him?"

Luke raised an eyebrow, "see who?" Tahiri answered, "The man who brought Anakin here he carried him in and put him the bed. Then he woke me up and had me call Healer Jenna. When she was looking Anakin over he just vanished." Luke turned her attention back to Jenna, "I just don't understand it even if he had managed to get past me there's no way he could've gotten past you."

Luke waved his hand dismissively, "I'm not sure about that, there are several Jedi stronger than I am. And as extensive as my skills are I am not all powerful and never will be. Still I agree it's unlikely someone could have slipped into the hall without my notice, or anyone else's for that matter. I know for a fact there were several other people in the hall they would have seen him who was this man?"

Tahiri shrugged, "Like I said Master Skywalker I never saw his face." Luke turned to Jenna, "I didn't see him either." Luke sighed, "Well hopefully Anakin will know who he was. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go get yelled at by my sister and chewed out by my brother-in-law."

Sure enough Han and Leia were both concerned for Anakin's well-being and furious that he had gotten hurt. Luke managed to convince them that they didn't need to come to Yavin four and that Anakin would be fine, he promised that he would tell them everything as he found it out. Anakin woke up about two hours later and saw his uncle sitting next to him, "What happened?"

Luke sighed, "I was hoping you would tell me." Anakin bit his lip, "I should have paid more attention to you earlier." Luke raised an eyebrow it was rare for Anakin (or anyone the young man's age) to admit they were wrong. Anakin sighed and continued, "I was running through the jungle and a stream broke loose, it was like a river. I hit my head and went flying down the river. There was a drop-off if I had gone over I would've died and suddenly a man reached out and grabbed me, he pulled me up and got us both out of the water."

Luke raised an eyebrow, "What did he look like?" Anakin shook his head, "That's the weird thing I never saw his face. When he pulled me out of the river my vision was blurred from the water and from hitting my head. By the time my eyesight cleared he had his hood up. He said his name was A.J."

Luke sat up straight, "A.J. was he in his late twenties/early thirties and about two meters tall?" Anakin shook his head, "He was tall, but from the way he sounded I'd say he was in his early twenties."

Luke shook his head, how could this be the same man, even if it was why hadn't he aged? What was going on? Luke studied his nephew carefully, "Anakin, my I probe your memories?" Anakin nodded, "of course." Luke looked carefully through Anakin's memories trying to get a clear view of this man; sure enough the voice and the height were identical to the man who'd saved Jacen and Jaina all those years ago. What the hell was going on?

For this to happen once was crazy enough for it to happen twice was ridiculous, even if Luke could dismiss his not knowing the young Jedi who'd saved the twins. There's no way he couldn't know someone studying here at the academy, Luke made sure to spend one-on-one time with every student who came through here no matter how busy he was. There is no way he could have missed this man if he was an academy student and there is no way this man could have used the force to save Anakin and brought him straight to the infirmary without even asking for directions if he wasn't a academy student this made no sense.

Anakin asked, "Uncle Luke what's wrong?" Luke sighed, "Anakin do you remember when Jacen and Jaina were seven years old and a group of men in the lower levels of Coruscant tried to kidnap them?" Anakin nodded as the memory came back to him, he had only been about five when this had happened it wasn't the clearest memory for him, but he did remember the description of the man who'd saved his siblings, "Are you telling me that was the same guy? How's that even possible?"

Luke shook his head feeling as confused as Anakin, "I don't know, but I intend to find out." Luke signaled that Tahiri could come back into the room; he had asked her to wait outside while he questioned Anakin. Once she was sitting down he left the two alone promising to come back later when he found something out. Luke made his way to his personal com system (he didn't want anyone accidentally overhearing anything) and sent in a call to Han and Leia who were waiting in their personal apartments for Luke's call back.

Luke sighed as the com connected Han spoke first, "So kid what's the news?" Luke shook his head, "You are never going to believe this, but Anakin says a man named A.J. saved him from falling off a cliff. I checked over Anakin's memories and from what I saw it's the same guy who saved Jacen and Jaina. What's more he hasn't aged a day as far as I can tell."

Han and Leia both fell into a stunned shock, Leia recovered first, "What?! How is that even possible?" Luke shook his head, "I have no idea honestly." Han spoke up, "Kid I know you probably thought of this all ready, but have you checked the surveillance holos and searched the academy for any sign of this guy?"

Luke shook his head, "I did, there is no sign of this guy except for a few shots of him bringing Anakin in and putting him in the infirmary. In those images you can't even get a vague view of his face, again we've got nothing." Han punched his left hand with his right fist, "That's it, look this guy may have saved our kids, but he keeps showing up exactly when they get in over their heads and disappearing when everything is fine how do we know he isn't causing these things to happen?"

Luke shook his head, "That makes no sense, people who cause accidents and then take the credit for the rescue are usually after some form of attention of validation. If he was causing it he should have stuck around and met us, asked for some kind of reward, or even gone public and made dozens of interviews on the holonet. None of those things have happened this guy is like a ghost he just appears and disappears."

Leia jerked her head up, "What if he is?" Luke raised an eyebrow, "What if he is a ghost? I mean we've encountered force spirits before maybe he's just another one." Luke shook his head, "I suppose that's possible, but I've never heard of a ghost being able to make themselves solid like that. And even if we concede this A.J. is some kind of spirit who could it be? Obi-wan and the others joined fully with the force years ago. Obi-wan told me himself that he couldn't come back anymore so I would assume that rule would apply to everyone else who died around that time."

Leia shook her head, "all right, last time I was willing to let this go and just right it off as a lucky coincidence of some kind, but now I can't do that this guy could be dangerous. I know you don't think he is Luke, but still we have to take that into consideration. We need to find him and there's only one way to get full publicity." Luke and Han both looked nervously at each other Han said, "Are you sure we want to do that?" Leia gave her husband and intense glare, "Do you have a better idea?" Han shook his head, "All right." Leia turned to Luke who calmly said, "Leia they're your children it's your choice, but for what it's worth I think that's our best chance of figuring out who this man could possibly be." Leia nodded and headed to her office to make the arrangements.

Luke went back to the infirmary and explained to Anakin what Leia had decided to do, while back on Coruscant Han was telling Jacen and Jaina the same thing. Jacen and Jaina agreed with their mother and thought it was a good idea to find A.J. at least to thank him if nothing else. Anakin meanwhile groaned loudly, "Do they have to do this?" Luke nodded, "Leia thinks this is the only way to flush this man out, I know it will be embarrassing for you to have this flashed all over the holonet, but we need to find this man do you understand that?"

Anakin nodded in a way that said he didn't like this, but he'd go along with it, "Yes I understand. I just wish there was another way." Luke nodded, "I know, but you're going to have to learn that there are some things in life people have to know even if we don't want to tell them. For years I avoided telling people the truth about my father, but eventually I realized that it was an insult to his memory and my own experiences if I acted like none of it had ever happened." Anakin sighed, "I understand Uncle Luke so when is it?" Luke gave Anakin the time so he could be prepared when Leia made her move.

One hour after Luke had called Leia Organa-Solo former princess of Alderaan and current chief of state was standing in front of her building, (to portray the image that this was a family matter and not a public matter). In front of a slew of reporters she had called for the press conference.

Leia calmly assessed the situation before she spoke, "Several years ago a group of men tried to kidnap my children Jacen and Jaina, but they were stopped by a mysterious young man who called himself A.J. We don't know much about this man, just that he was in his early twenties, about two meters tall, had dirty blonde hair, and Jedi training."

That was it, the press exploded into a mass of questions and curious shouts, Leia held up her hand for silence and a moment later they settled down, "A few days ago my youngest son Anakin had an accident at the Jedi academy on Yavin four and he was saved by a man called A.J. from what my brother has been able to discern it was the same man, except he didn't seem to have aged at all. There are no images of this mans face and no one who has seen him has gotten a clear view of his face. Let me make it clear that this man has done nothing wrong and is wanted for no crime, my family and I would just like to discover who he is so we can thank him properly for his actions and find out how and why he seems able to just appear when our family is in danger and disappear without a trace afterwards. I would like to emphasize once more that his man is not wanted for anything, if we find out who he is he will not be charged or punished for his actions we only want to find out who he is."

Several reporters questioned Leia, but since she didn't have a lot of information on this man most of her answers were, "I'm sorry, but I can't give you that information." Leia made it seem like she knew more than what she did and was holding back so they'd be able to identify this man properly if they ever found him.

After the press conference Luke retreated to his private rooms to meditate on what he'd learned. Anakin's experience had once more given Luke the feeling that he knew this A.J. and Leia's suggestion kept nagging at the back of his mind. However, no matter how hard Luke focused or how deeply he allowed himself to go into the force he could not get a clear picture of A.J. or recognize his force signature. Every time Luke seemed to get close it the image vanished it was like trying to stop a windstorm with your bare hands it just wouldn't focus, still Luke was determined to at least give this his best effort even if that meant he wouldn't discover the truth he had to do everything he could before he gave up.

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Over the ensuing weeks and months they got hundreds of reports (and a few false arrests) of men who met A.J.'s description, but none of them panned out. Han even called in some favors with friends he had in the smuggling and bounty business, but they all came up craps as well. Luke continued to meditate on the strange young man, but the force didn't bring him closer than it had that first time. Han and Leia kept a much closer eye on their children than usual over the next year or so, but as more time passed without any positive i.d.'s or signs of this strange young man they began to move on again, but little did any of them know that they hadn't seen the last of A.J. In fact they weren't even closed to seeing the last of him, but again it would be a long time before they heard from him.


	3. now you see me

**Now you see me, now you don't**

**One year after the swarm wars books.**

Ben Skywalker laughed as he jumped off the rock and into the sea below, the water was warm and it felt great. Ben's head shot up out of the water and his Dad laughed, "Ben if I didn't know any better I'd swear you were part fish." Luke Skywalker had decided to take his family on vacation to Mon Cal so they could spend some time alone together and get away from all the stress of day-to-day life. Raynar Thull was in the capable hands of Jedi healers who were working with him to repair the damage he'd suffered in a ship crash years ago and for the first time in a long time Luke felt comfortable leaving the Jedi order for a little while.

Mara Jade shook her head at the two of them and said, "Well how do you know he isn't? I mean we know nothing about my family and only slightly more about yours. For all we know giving birth to three toed blue furred tree sloths could run in either side of the family." Ben snickered at Mara, "Mom, I don't think there are and tree sloth's in our family."

Mara looked pointedly at first her son then her husband and said without so much as cracking a grin, "Well how would we know?" the three of them laughed as Ben noticed that his mother was sitting off to the side obviously trying to avoid the water and 'get some sun' Ben smiled wickedly as an idea suddenly bloomed in his head, "Oh, mom!" Mara turned, "what?" Ben splashed her as heard as he could. Mara jerked as the water hit her, it wasn't cold, but it was still a shock. She spluttered and shook her head while Luke, who was still standing to the side of both of them, leaned over, put his hand on his knees, and laughed.

Luke loved rare moments like this when he could forget about everything else in the galaxy and was able to just relax and be himself. Mara gave Luke and Ben dirty looks, "oh yeah." Mara used the force to send two strong waves at each of them, she made sure they wouldn't cause any serious injuries just knock them over. Sure enough when the waves hit Ben went under and did a summersault underwater which caused his head to spin slightly. Ben broke the surface gasping loudly without noticing the unusual color of the coral that surrounded him and not realizing that this particular coral was highly poisonous.

Ben scowled at his mother, "Hey, no fair." Mara just shook her finger at him saying, "All's fair in love and war." Luke surfaced a moment later and asked, "What'd you do that for, I didn't splash you?" Mara snorted at him, "No but you laughed." Luke shook his head as Ben walked along the coral to get closer to his parents. Just as Ben stepped forward onto a particularly brittle piece of coral it broke off and Ben slipped cutting his leg on the poisonous coral that surrounded him without even realizing it, "Ah! My leg, my leg!" Luke rushed over towards his son and Mara dove in after him.

Luke lifted Ben out of the water and noticed the large gash on his right leg it was about 12 centimeters long and fairly deep Luke used the force to send healing energy at Ben as he pulled him out of the water. Mara asked, "How bad is it?" Luke carried Ben towards the shore, "it's fairly deep he's going to need a doctor." Mara helped Luke carry Ben onto the beach, Luke didn't really need help, but he knew Mara would feel better if she could help. They set Ben down on the towel Mara had been sunning herself on and Mara went through the bag she'd brought as Luke grabbed his Com unit from his own bag and called the local hospital for a doctor.

Mara had made sure to pack some basic first aid necessities just in case she pulled carefully cleaned Ben's leg, "Ah, ow mom!" Mara ran a hand through her son's head, "I know it hurts just try to relax." Mara placed a disinfectant on the gash and wrapped it with a water proof bandage as Luke spoke up, "Ben everything will be fine help is coming."

Mara looked up, "how long?" She didn't ask what she was referring to and didn't need to, "five minutes."

Sure enough five minutes later the hospitals transport arrived and brought all three Skywalker's to the hospital. A tall blonde woman greeted them as the paramedics pushed Ben in on a gurney, "Nine year old boy with a serious leg lack, caused by slipping on the reef." The woman held out a hand which Ben shook instinctively, "Hi my name's Doctor Richards what's yours?" liked this woman she seemed nice, "Ben Skywalker." Dr. Richards jerked her head up at the sound of Ben's last name she looked at Mara and Luke who both nodded confirming her suspicions.

Dr. Richards took Ben into an exam room and removed the bandage Mara applied to the wound so she could view it properly, "ouch, don't worry Ben I'm going to take care of you. All right, we're going to take some of your blood and test to make sure there's no infection and x-ray to make sure there are no broken bones. Then we're going to clean and dress this wound and you'll be free to go, nurse." A large Mon Calamarian walked over to Ben holding a small syringe, "all right buddy I need you to make a fist for me." Ben did as he asked and turned away so he wouldn't have to look needles made him nervous. Luke and Mara both held their son's other hand Luke spoke first, "It's o.k. Ben just relax it'll be over before you know it." Sure enough a moment later the nurse removed the syringe, "there we go all done, I'm inputting this now." The nurse injected the syringe into a computer consul and pushed a sequence of buttons that would run the blood than he pulled a small hand held device out of the cabinet, "Dr. Richards."

The Doctor walked over and scanned Ben's leg, "all right let's see what we have here, perfect no broken bones. We can seal this and wrap it, now you're going to have to take it easy for a few days, but everything should be fine. Dr. Richards used surgical glue to seal Ben's leg and wrapped it tight." Just as she finished the nurse said, "Doctor, I need you over here."

Dr. Richards walked over and looked at the read out on the screen as she read it over her face dropped while Luke and Mara sensed her distress Mara asked, "what's wrong?" Dr. Richards regarded both of them carefully, "Can I have a word with you two outside." Ben asked, "what's going on?" Luke put a reassuring hand on the boys shoulder. "Doctor I'd like Ben to hear this." Dr. Richards bit her lip, "Are you sure?" Mara nodded, "We don't want to keep things from Ben regarding his health and we'll tell him anyway." Dr. Richards nodded, "if you're sure." Luke and Mara said 'yes' together and Dr. Richards walked towards them she sat down in a near-by chair, "The blood work shows that Ben cut his leg type of coral that is highly poisonous now I assure you my staff and myself will do everything possible to help him, but if he doesn't receive and antidote in three days time he will die."

Ben stiffened, "I'm going to die?" his voice sounded so small and afraid Mara put a hand under his chin and turned Ben to look her in the eye, "No Ben everything will be fine if your father and I have to move heaven itself to get you better we will." Luke said, "Absolutely" Then turned to Dr. Richards, "What's the problem this is a hospital don't you have the antidote available?" Dr. Richards nodded, "Well yes, but unless we know exactly what kind of coral Ben injured himself on we can't do anything. If he' given the wrong antidote it could make it worse or kill him faster."

Mara pulled her son tightly into her arms as Luke sucked in a deep breath, "Fine then, I'll go find it." Luke turned to Mara, "Will you stay here with Ben?" Mara raised an eyebrow, "Do you need to ask?" Luke leaned over and kissed Ben on the head, "Ben I'm going back to the beach to find the coral, I'll be back as soon as I can all right?" Ben nodded still looking completely terrified as Luke turned and left the hospital.

Luke ran full tilt using the force to help him and arrived at the beach faster than it had taken the hospital transport to get there Luke dived in right were Ben was standing when it happened and quickly guided himself down to reef. Once he was down there Luke found the spot were Ben had fallen, but there was a problem Ben's leg had broken off the coral that he'd cut himself on. Luke reached out through the force hoping to get a glimpse of the coral and describe it to the doctor, but no matter how hard he focused it wouldn't come to him. Luke stayed there for over an hour going up and under the water again and again. Finally he surfaced and shouted at the sky, "Why?! Damn it! Haven't we lost enough why?!" Luke panted as he felt tears fall down his face and then quietly asked, "Why?" He didn't receive an answer (at least not one he heard).

Luke arrived back at the hospital and Mara knew without having to ask that he hadn't gotten what he needed. Luke pulled Mara into a hug and said, "I don't understand why this is happening I just don't." Mara pulled back so Luke could look her in the eyes, "I meant what I said before. I don't care what I have to do I refuse to burry my child over a chunk of rock." Luke nodded, "count me in." They broke the news to Ben and had to spend the next two hours calming him down, Luke ran through the hospital confronting every doctor he saw and called in a few experts. They all said the same thing as Doctor Richards without the proper coral they couldn't do anything.

Meanwhile Ben was getting worse he started with a headache than moved on to stomach cramps and a fever. Luke and Mara poured every ounce of force healing into Ben they could, but it only lessened his symptoms it didn't remove them. Luke and Mara were determined to beat this, but in the back of their minds they both couldn't help wondering if this were the beginning of the end.

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Ben Skywalker woke up with a gasp his ear was sore he pressed a hand to it and was surprised to see that neither of his parents were awake. For the last two days they had tended to his every need if Ben so much as coughed they poured healing energy into them and now they were asleep. Ben reached out to wake his Dad when a voice range out, "Don't bother the nurse put sedatives in their drinks I don't think an explosion would wake them at this point."

Ben jerked up, "Who are you?" A shadowy figure walked towards him, "my name is A.J. I brought you some medication it'll cure you're illness." Ben shook his head, "The doctor's said they couldn't give me anything without knowing what kind of coral I got hurt on and Dad couldn't find it." A.J. nodded his face still in shadows, "I know, your father couldn't detect the kind of coral because there is a certain type of rock on Mon Cal that can block force energy. It doesn't block it fully like some other things, but it will prevent someone from doing certain things I think that's why your father couldn't get a glimpse of the coral through the force." Ben raised an eyebrow, "I've never heard of anything like that."

A.J. shrugged, "Most people don't know that, I happen to because I've encountered it before. I was there that day I know what you injured yourself on and I can heal you." Ben wasn't sure what to think he wanted to get better and he didn't want to die, but could he trust a total stranger who he'd never seen before? It's true he hadn't been in the hospital long and didn't know everyone, but he thought every expert in the place had seen him all ready, "How do I know you're not lying?" A.J. Nodded, "you are your mothers' child, here." He through something at Ben who caught it, Ben looked at the item carefully it was a hospital I.D. that read simply A.J. there was no last name Ben thought this was strange, but he figured it wasn't that big of a deal after thinking things over for a moment he said, "All right." A.J. walked over and injected a syringe into Ben's leg right where he'd cut it, then he picked up his I.D., turned, and left without a sound as Ben fell asleep once more.

Ben woke early and tried to figure out why he was up so early, but then he heard it, "Oh my goodness!" Dr. Richards was shouting as Luke and Mara jerked up as well, Dr. Richards turned to them, "His blood work is clear there's no sign of infection nothing Ben is perfectly healthy!!!" Luke and Mara pulled Ben into a hug, shouting in joy Ben hugged back and soon everyone was crying. They stayed that way for over an hour before look finally asked the question all three adults were wondering, "How?" Ben answered, "The doctor gave me a shot he said you couldn't sense what had happened because there's a certain kind of rock that blocks the force a little."

Dr. Richards gasped, "What doctor?" Ben turned to her, "He said his name was A.J." Luke groaned loudly as Mara asked, "What was his last name?" Ben shrugged, "I don't know the I.D. didn't say." Luke said, "And let me guess you never saw his face." It was more of a statement than a question, but Ben nodded, "Yeah how'd you know?" Luke shook his head, "it's a long story." The doctors spent weeks running every test they could on Ben and looked over the hospital employee records to find the slightest sign of the man who'd saved Ben's life, but no one's description fit. Luke told Ben the story of what had happened to his cousins and tried once more to discover the identity of this strange man, but he didn't hold out much hope Luke had resigned himself to the fact that whoever this man was they weren't going to find him. Finally Luke and Mara insisted on taking Ben home there was nothing more they could learn here.

When Luke and Mara arrived back home they sent Han, Leia, Jacen, and Jaina a com telling them what had happened the four of them arrived shortly to discuss the situation. Luke sighed heavily, "Well I think we can verify this man is definitely a spirit all though who I have no idea." Mara said, "Not necessarily, this man could be a changeling that would also explain everything." Leia nodded, "Yes, but I've never heard of a changeling Jedi and even if this person were some kind of shape shifter why would he be so crazy to save members of our family and never get credit or even introduce himself. He'd have to be around constantly to do these things and one way or another someone would have sensed him."

Luke nodded, "That's true I don't think it's possible for a changeling to be a Jedi I've never met or heard of one. The question is whose spirit is it Ben said there was no last name on the tag." Han asked, "Well what about Obi-Wan, I know he said he couldn't see you anymore, but you haven't seen anything have you?" Luke nodded, "I suppose that's possible still this man doesn't really feel like Ben's it's familiar, but I can't quiet place it. It's almost like trying to remember the name of someone you meant once years ago and even though the name's on the tip of your tongue you just can't seem to get it out." Han shrugged as Jaina spoke up, "Well, whoever this guy is we know that he definitely isn't causing these accidents and he isn't dangerous so I say we just accept that and call it a day."

Many of the others nodded and while Luke was inclined to agree with his niece something was still bothering him about it all, he finally realized what it was when Jacen said, "I don't know if this guy is so great why didn't he intervene when Anakin or Chewie died? Or when aunt Mara got sick? I mean why does he only show up sometimes?" That was precisely what Luke was wondering about, "I don't know Jaina had a point there's nothing we can do about this man (at least for now). While we may not understand him fully he doesn't appear to be dangerous so I think we should take these events at face value until we can prove with absolute certainty what is going on, which will probably be never if things keep going to way they are."

Mara shook her head, "Yes maybe this is just one of those cases were you have a truly unsolvable mystery and we all need to live with that as best we can." Everyone agreed and decided to let the matter drop no one thought they would ever find out who this A.J. really was. Once more it would be a long time before they saw him again, but it would be different, because the next time they saw A.J. they would know exactly who he was and what was going on, the only problem was once more it would take a near tragedy to bring him forth.

A/N O.k. that's all for now there will probably only be one or two more chapters of this story before it finishes in the mean time opinions are welcome.


	4. spirit

Spirits

A/n one year before Betrayal warning spoilers for the end of said book in this chap.

Luke Skywalker was going down, his sister Leia had asked him to come on a diplomatic mission with her, and Luke had been happy to agree. The only problem was no one had informed either one of them that the planet they were going wanted absolutely nothing to do with the Galactic Alliance and the people considered any kind of unwelcome visitors a potential threat.

As soon as they'd entered the planet's atmosphere a squadron of ships had appeared attacking Luke's X-wing and the Falcon. Luke had taken the point and both ships had begun to fly back into orbit the only problem was before Luke could clear the planet fully a rogue shot had hit his engine and not only destroyed the engine, but also the life support systems and when that happened Leia had sensed his distress, "Hey kid what's going on back there!" Luke pulled at the controls hoping to get the ship air born again, but it was useless, "I've been hit bad and I'm going down fast. I'll use the force to slow my descent you should get clear."

Leia's voice rang out over the comm., "Like Hell we will, Luke I am not leaving you behind." Luke jerked at the sound of Leia's voice she hardly ever swore, "Well at least stay clear until I'm all the way down just in case." Luke didn't have to mention what 'just in case' meant they all knew there was a chance his ship could explode upon impact with the ground. Luke used the force to slow his descent, but he couldn't help thinking 'there's no way I'm going to survive this one' Luke's ship hit the ground hard and jerked him forward in his safety harness his head hit the durasteal just above the x-wings view port and everything went black.

Luke woke up with a groan, as he looked around he realized he was in a medical bay which meant he'd been out for at least two days. Luke continued looking around noticing the monitoring equipment around him and then he saw something that made him swear in frustration, himself. Luke hadn't realized it, but his 'body' was lying on a table to his right and he was floating in mid air, "Oh no not this again." Just as Luke spoke the door opened and his family entered.

Leia was the first one in followed by Han, Mara with Ben, Jacen, and Jaina they stood around his body and Luke shouted hoping they would hear him, "Hello! I'm right here! Come on Jacen you and Jaina could see me last time!" Suddenly Mara asked, "So what happened?" Leia sighed heavily, "His ship went down and we went after him, how we managed to get down, get him out of there, and get out without being blown up I'll never know." Han nodded, "Yeah it was crazy. Anyway Luke was unconscious when we pulled him out and he had some cuts and bruises."

Leia nodded, "He also had a pretty nasty gash on his head we thought that was why he was unconscious, but once we were in hyper space I tried to reach Luke through the force and I couldn't. I could only sense a vague echo of his presence and nothing on the planet could have caused that." Luke listened to Leia while at the same time trying to get their attention he reached out through the force towards the rooms power source hoping to cause the lights to flicker, but as soon as he'd felt himself connecting with it his force connection would slip something was blocking him.

Luke growled in frustration, "What is going on?" Luke shook his head; well if he couldn't reach them maybe he could reach someone else, "Ben! Ben Kenobi! Obi-Wan! Master Yoda! Father, Anakin Skywalker!" (A/n I got this directly from the Champions of the force series) Suddenly a voice came from his right, "Luke, you don't have to scream we are dead not deaf." (a/n this line is from the movie Second sight, it's really funny).

Luke turned and sighed in relief when he saw a familiar form standing there, he recognized the man from the night on Endor when Palpatine had died, "Father, thank the force I was starting to get worried." Anakin stepped closer to his son, "Yes I know." Luke looked around, "What's going on?"

Anakin stood closer so he was eye to eye with Luke, "It's a long story, but I'll do my best to explain." Luke nodded, "it's good to see you again." Anakin smiled, "You to, I just wish it were under different circumstances." Anakin paced back and forth a few times with his hands clasped behind his back and then he looked at himself and laughed, "All these years, you'd think I would've gotten past that by now. Oh well, Luke here's what happened you thought you were going to die." Luke wasn't sure if that was a statement or a question so he nodded, "Yes, so what? It's not like it was the first time?" Anakin pointed at him saying, "Yes, but this time you were absolutely certain you were going to die and that combined with the impact of the crash were enough to shock your soul out of your body. It's happened to people before."

Luke raised an eyebrow, "I've never heard about something like this, except what happened with Exar Kun." Anakin nodded, "Yes, but most people who this happens to have no real memory of it." Suddenly Luke realized something, "It was you wasn't it?" Anakin raised an eyebrow, "what was me?" Luke smirked, "A.J." Anakin sighed, "Yes it was, my middle name is James so A.J. was just a natural choice."

Luke asked, "Then why did you help when you did? Why not save Anakin when he died?" Anakin sighed, "That's hard to explain, you see when the kids were in danger there was no one else who could have helped them at that time. I saved them because I was given permission to." Luke interrupted, "Permission, from whom?" Anakin shook his head, "That, I can't tell you there are certain things the living can't know. Let's just say there are certain 'entities' that are in charge on the other side who decide whether a spirit can go back and forth or not. The reason I didn't help Anakin when he went after the Voxen queen or Jacen when he was captured by the Vong is because there are certain things spirits are not allowed to interfere with. Every person has a destiny and it's made by our choices so when someone makes a big choice like going after the Voxen or when you went to Bespin." Anakin winced as he said that, but went on none the less, "We have to let it play out, I wanted to help I truly did, but there is no way I would have been allowed to."

Luke nodded his understanding, "I understand, but why you? No offense father, but why not Ben or Master Yoda why was it always you?" Anakin raised an eyebrow, "It's simple really Obi-wan went back and forth between the land of the living and the world of the dead for so long because you needed him. There were things you hadn't learned and the only one who could show you was Obi-wan. The only problem is moments like this are exceedingly rare and people are only allowed so many trips back and forth by the time you were ready to be on your own Obi-wan had used all of his trips up. As for Master Yoda, well as you know his species lives very long. People who live so long often have trouble moving on if Yoda had gone back to see you it would have been much harder for him to cross back over again than it is for the rest of us."

Luke wasn't sure what to ask next he'd always thought he'd have a million questions if he had this chance, but right now they all seemed to have disappeared, "Why couldn't you help Obi-wan?" Anakin shook his head in annoyance, "I believe that there was some mention of my being a potential 'bad influence' that's why I couldn't let any of you know I was the one who kept showing up. The only reason I was allowed to help was if I promised to keep myself hidden, but that obviously isn't an option this time."

Luke took a deep breath, than realized that he wasn't really able to breath and just shook his head Anakin smiled at him, "I know it's strange I can help you get back, but it's going to be." Anakin bit his lip and gave Luke a sad look, "Painful, very painful." Luke raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

Anakin shook his head in disgust and held out his right hand towards the rest of the room once his arm was fully extended it jerked against something and for a second Luke saw a screen of static, "A force field?" Anakin shook his head, "not exactly it is a barrier meant to separate the living from the dead, it doesn't always work, but it's the best way to keep dangerous spirits from hurting innocent people. When you were thrown from your body you ended up on the other side of it. I can help you back through, but like I said it will hurt the first time through is always the most painful. Luke I know this won't be easy, but I need you to listen to me no matter what happens you can not under any circumstances use the force to help you or keep away the pain."

Luke stared at his father shocked, "What? Why not?" Anakin looked truly upset, "Because if you do then you could get trapped within the barrier itself and if that happens there will be no way out even when your body dies. You won't be in either world and you'll remain trapped there forever. I wish I could prevent it, but there's nothing I can do." Luke opened and closed his mouth a few times in total shock, "How bad is it?" Anakin closed his eyes, "Pretty bad, I can't really describe it. It's similar to being hit with force lightning, but different more intense, it's very hard to explain."

Luke nodded, "Do we have to do it right away?" Anakin shook his head violently, "no, absolutely not if you want to wait an hour or even six years the option will still be available to you." Luke said, "I don't want to wait six years I just need some time to get my head around this." Anakin gave him an understanding smile, "Absolutely." Luke couldn't help asking, "Will I remember this?" Anakin shrugged, "I honestly don't know, it's possible you will simply because you're a Jedi, but it's like I said before Luke this is so unusual that there's no way to tell what will and won't happen I'm sorry I can't give you a better answer."

Luke said, "I understand it's strange I always thought I'd know exactly what to say if this happened and now that it has." Anakin finished, "You can't think of anything, I know how that goes what do you want to know?" Luke thought for a moment before saying, "Everything." Anakin grinned, "Everything will take a long time, but you have a right to know. Everything started on the small planet Naboo with a group of people known as the trade federation." (A/n I am not writing that all out)

Anakin talked for well over an hour Luke laughed when he heard his father's first words to his mother, "Are you an angel? You actually said that?" Anakin rolled his eyes, "Well I was nine years old at the time so I wasn't purposely trying to pick her up. I honestly thought she was an angel, and you know what? I wasn't wrong." By the time Anakin was talking about how he'd become Vader his voice was quavering, "I lost all of my remaining limbs and rolled down the hill I remember yelling, 'I hate you', at Obi-wan. He said that, 'I was his brother and he loved me." (A/n this is right from Rvots) "Then I felt something hot on the back of what was left of my thigh and the next things I knew I was on fire. Everything burned Palpatine found me and brought me to the medical center."

Luke shook his head, "How did you survive that?" Anakin shook his head, "I refused to die. I thought death was the end of everything and I refused to let go." Luke said, "I don't know what to say." Anakin said, "you don't have to say anything." Luke waited for a few moments letting the information sink in before asking, "I don't suppose you know who Mara's parents are or where she came from?"

Anakin shook his head, "No, I'm afraid that information died with the Emperor. There may have been records at one time, but the odds are they were destroyed decades ago I' m sorry." Luke said, "It isn't your fault, now I think we should get through the barrier." Anakin turned to him, "Luke are you sure you're ready for this?" Luke said, "Yes" in a tone that broke no argument.

Anakin stepped back, "Very well." Anakin walked over to the veil and then stepped through it like walking between two rooms and put his left hand back through the veil, "I can help you get through, but you must take the first steps on your own. Remember whatever happens do not stop and do not use the force." Luke nodded his understanding and carefully stepped in to the barrier.

The pain was like nothing Luke had ever felt before it was as though a thousand killer bees were stinging him all at once. It took everything Luke had not to use the force to at least dull the pain (surely no one could survive this and remain sane). Luke knew he had to keep moving forward, but his legs didn't seem to want to move than he felt a reassuring hand grasp his and pull him forward. Of course his father! Luke had almost forgotten Anakin was there, but now that he remembered the warmth of the other arm on his own was without a doubt one of the most soothing things he'd ever felt. As Anakin yanked him away from the barrier Luke's legs suddenly became unstuck and he could move again. Luke continued to pres through all though it still hurt, and he was fairly certain he was screaming then just as suddenly as it came the pain went away.

Luke collapsed as soon as he'd passed through the barrier and fell into his father's arms, the exact opposite of what had happened just after Palpatine's death all those years ago. Luke was gasping heavily his vision was blurred and he was incredibly sore, he heard his father's voice speaking it sounded far away, but he could make out what was being said, "well done my son well done indeed."

Luke didn't know how long he lay there before he was finally able to stand, but eventually he managed to with his fathers' help, "Take it easy Luke you don't want to over do it." Once Luke was standing his head cleared and a few minutes later he could walk on his own finally he asked, "Now what?" Anakin gestured to Luke's body, "Put your hands on your temples and focus on your own force signature." Luke walked over and placed his hands on his own head before he focused he turned to his father and said, "Thank you." Anakin smiled broadly, "Anytime Luke it's what I'm here for."

Luke opened himself to the force and focused as he did he saw his father began to fade away, but before he could say anything everything went black once more. Luke groaned as he opened his eyes, 'had the lights always been so bright?' "Luke!" Luke turned to see his sister Leia sitting next to him, "Oh, thank the force, he's awake." Leia said this last part into her personal communicator and before Luke could speak the room was full of people.

Ben walked over and gave Luke a hug which he gladly returned while Mara said, "Skywalker, don't you even think of doing that again." Luke grinned at the concern he could see in her eyes, eventually Jacen asked, "what happened?" Luke turned to him and tried to remember it was like recalling a dream he'd had years ago, but then slowly things started to come back to him, "I thought I was going to die and somehow it forced my spirit out of my body I called for help, but none of you could hear me. Then Father came."

Leia looked at him, "What?" Luke said, "I called for him and he came he helped me get back, he's A.J. Father said he was only allowed to help in certain situations where no one else was available and he couldn't save Anakin because it would have interfered with the path of destiny it's all so hard to remember."

Han spoke up from behind him, "Ah kid, look you hit your head pretty hard and it's possible." Luke shook his head, "no I wasn't seeing things." Luke explained everything that had happened from beginning to end (at least the parts he could remember clearly). Luke remembered his father telling him about the life he'd lead as Anakin Skywalker before he'd become Vader, but he couldn't remember most of what he'd said. Although Luke did remember asking Anakin about Mara's parents and the answer Anakin had given.

Once he was finished the others stared at him in shock Jaina spoke first, "So aunt Mara was right, it was spirit who saved us all those times." Luke nodded, "Yes he said he'd be there as much as he could at least now we know who it is and that he isn't dangerous or causing these things to happen." The others nodded their agreement and they sat there talking for about an hour before Luke was allowed to leave.

As soon as he was back home Luke headed straight for the bed, he was exhausted, as soon as his head touched the pillow Luke felt himself begin to drift off and muttered, "Thank you father."

Swswswswswswswsw

A/n just after the end of Betrayal

Jacen Solo was going to become a Sith, he stood in his bedroom trying to figure out when he would go in for training when he had the feeling that someone was watching him. Jacen turned and for a moment he could have sworn he saw a young man with blonde hair shaking his head at Jacen in a way that was both sad and disappointed, but as quickly as the image had come it was gone.

Jacen shook his head muttering, "I must be more tired than I thought I was." Jacen removed his cloaks and headed to bed not realizing that his grandfather had been trying to save him once more. Anakin stood in the room watching his grandson leave then a voice came from his right, "I'm surprised they let you do that normally it's not allowed." Anakin turned to see Obi-wan standing next to him as always, "Well I convinced them it was worth a shot if there was even a chance of keeping history from repeating itself, unfortunately it doesn't look like it worked." Obi-wan nodded, "Yes well, I have a feeling he will see the light just as you did." As Obi-wan and Anakin faded out of the room Anakin couldn't help saying, "Yes, but will he be able to turn back before it's too late or will he ruin his life the same way I ruined mine?" No matter what Jacen choose Anakin promised that he would do whatever he could to keep his grandson from meeting the dame fate he had. One way or another he would be there when he was needed.

The end

o.k. I know this kind of leaves you hanging, but since the series isn't over yet I thought it was the best way. So what did you think? I probably won't do a sequel.


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